--- title: Sen. Jeff Flake Appears Onstage With Sen. Chris Coons description: One day after Sen. Jeff Flake disrupted the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, he appeared with Sen. Chris Coons at the Global Citizen Festival. canonical: https://time.com/5411073/jeff-flake-chris-coons-global-citizen-festival/ author: Alejandro de la Garza article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-30T18:58:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:01:06.738Z article:section: Politics og:title: Sen. Jeff Flake and Sen. Chris Coons Speak at Global Citizen Festival, One Day After Dramatic Kavanaugh Vote og:description: "Feel free to join me in an elevator anytime," said Jeff Flake og:url: https://time.com/5411073/jeff-flake-chris-coons-global-citizen-festival/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a86cf460c716f6f/69893b85db29875a6a260d34/jeff-flake-chris-coons-global-citizen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4500 og:image:height: 2531 og:image:alt: 2018 Global Citizen Festival: Be The Generation - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sen. Jeff Flake and Sen. Chris Coons Speak at Global Citizen Festival, One Day After Dramatic Kavanaugh Vote twitter:description: "Feel free to join me in an elevator anytime," said Jeff Flake twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a86cf460c716f6f/69893b85db29875a6a260d34/jeff-flake-chris-coons-global-citizen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sen. Jeff Flake and Sen. Chris Coons Speak at Global Citizen Festival, One Day After Dramatic Kavanaugh Vote > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=c06143f1-f534-4094-800f-945cf3bfd644&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Sen. Jeff Flake Shifts and Indicates He Can Only Support Kavanaugh After FBI Investigation [Watch (HLS stream): Sen. Jeff Flake Shifts and Indicates He Can Only Support Kavanaugh After FBI Investigation](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/GGPdsWNx.m3u8) (2:36)  _Published 2018-09-28. Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake requested that the Senate delay its full vote for a week to allow for an FBI investigation into the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh._  by [Alejandro de la Garza](https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Sep 30, 2018 6:58 PM UTC Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake requested that the Senate delay its full vote for a week to allow for an FBI investigation into the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh.  by [Alejandro de la Garza](https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Sep 30, 2018 6:58 PM UTC One day after Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake dropped [a bombshell on the Brett Kavanaugh hearings](http://time.com/5409734/jeff-flake-vote-confirm-kavanaugh/), he appeared with Delaware Sen. Chris Coons Saturday, onstage at the [Global Citizen Festival](http://time.com/4955090/global-citizen-festival-2017-stevie-wonder-knee/) in New York City. At the seventh annual festival, which takes place as the U.N. General Assembly winds down, the two senators delivered a message of democracy and global prosperity. It was a different tone than the one which shaped the intense week prior. Both men serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversaw testimony on Thursday from Kavanaugh, a nominee for the Supreme Court, and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who has alleged that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the 1980s. Onstage, the two senators spoke of their “deep and genuine friendship” and the time they each spent in Africa as young men. They touted their mutual commitment to educating women, addressing health crises and promoting peace and prosperity abroad. The Global Citizen Festival, held in Central Park every year, has the goal of ending extreme poverty around the world by 2030. “A stable and prosperous world keeps all of us strong and prosperous,” Flake said. Both Senators appealed to Americans and people around the world to keep reaching out to them. “There are people’s voices we need to hear,” Coons said. “From around the world and here in our own country.” During Friday’s vote to confirm Kavanaugh out of the Judiciary Committee, the two senators met in private to discuss the impact of Ford’s allegations. Though Flake did not change his position, he only agreed to forward Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Senate floor under the condition that the FBI conduct an investigation of Ford’s allegations before the final confirmation vote. “It was our personal relationship that made the politics of compromise that prevailed yesterday possible,” Coons said. During his speech, Flake also made reference to [his confrontation](http://time.com/5409734/jeff-flake-vote-confirm-kavanaugh/) with an alleged victim of sexual assault in an elevator on Friday, which many see as a galvanizing factor in his reconsideration. “Feel free to join me in an elevator anytime,” Flake said. Watch their speech in the video below: ## Transcript [00:00] As a point of personal privilege, I'm gonna call on [00:03] Senator Flake to speak. Normally, we would [00:07] start the vote right now but as a point of personal [00:10] privilege I would call on Senator Flake. Thank you. I [00:15] have been speaking with a number of people on the [00:17] other side. We've had conversations ongoing for a [00:20] while with regard to. Making [00:24] sure that we do two diligent here and I think it would [00:28] be proper to delay the four [00:32] vote for up to not more than one week. In [00:37] order to let the FBI continue to [00:41] do an investigation limited in time and scope. To the [00:45] current allegations that are there, and limit in time to [00:49] no more than one week, and I will vote to advance [00:54] the bill to the floor with that understanding, [00:59] and I've spoken to a few other members who [01:04] on my side of the aisle that maybe supported this as [01:06] well But that's my position. I think that [01:11] we ought to do what we can to make sure that we do [01:15] all due diligence with a nomination this important. And [01:18] I wanna say that this committee has acted properly [01:21] and the Chairman has bent over backwards To do [01:25] investigations from this committee and to delay this [01:30] vote in this committee for a week so that judge or that [01:36] Doctor Ford can be heard And she was yesterday. So [01:41] that's, with that agreement, I will vote to advance the [01:44] bill to the floor. Senator Klobuchar Mr. Chairman, there [01:47] are other senators as well who may be interested [01:52] in this negotiation on the republican side. And there's [01:55] not really a set agreement here, all of us had already [01:58] said we were voting no. It is simply Senator Flake [02:02] Working with all of us to say for the good of this senate [02:05] and the good of the court, the American people [02:08] deserve to have the facts followed upon. And [02:12] I really appreciate his willingness to do that. And that [02:16] what this is about. This is simply about and by the way [02:19] if Senator Makanow wants to go forward In line of that [02:22] and we still have several senators that having said how [02:25] they're voting on this nominee, I actually think this is [02:28] very important what just happened right now. So it [02:32] doesn't have to have an agreement, it is one senator [02:34] who's standing up. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5411073/jeff-flake-chris-coons-global-citizen-festival/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5411073/jeff-flake-chris-coons-global-citizen-festival/"},"headline":"Sen. Jeff Flake and Sen. 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